


The Advantage of Loopholes

by IceBlueRose



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: 11:59 Fix-It, AU after Turncoat for LoT, Destiny Fix-It, F/M, Hints of Canaryfire, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-04 04:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10983144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceBlueRose/pseuds/IceBlueRose
Summary: When Mick and Sara go to tell Lisa about what happened to Leonard, no one expects it to turn in to a chance at rescuing more than just Leonard.





	The Advantage of Loopholes

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: Legends - AU after Turncoat; Flash - set just before Untouchable
> 
> Just a bit of a head's up that there's a time jump (no pun intended) there at the end and I won't lie, it's because I didn't want to try and write the characters from Arrow and the big reunion scene with them. I've been trying to finish this for forever it seems and now it finally is!

Lisa Snart, Sara decided, looked the way Sara felt. Broken, angry, grieving. She looked like she wanted to deny the words she’d just heard.

Then again, Sara couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t every day you were told that the only family you had left had sacrificed himself to give everyone free will.

Sara barely stopped herself from flinching at the thought. She hadn’t spoken about Leonard—not directly, at least—since they had defeated Savage. She’d mentioned him vaguely when telling Nate that even the strongest and bravest died but she’d let him assume that she was talking about Rip. (How could she be talking about Rip? He wasn’t dead.) Hell, she’d avoided even thinking about him as much as possible. It was something that she only allowed herself to feel guilty about when she was alone. It was why, despite the friendship they’d been building before, she rarely spoke to Mick unless it was about their latest mission.

It reminded her too much of Leonard. And considering that Mick hadn’t done anything to change the way things were going, she had a feeling that he felt the same way.

They’d landed in 2017 to talk to Barry about Eobard Thawne and what he might know about the man when Mick had announced he was going to go find Lisa to tell her about what had happened at the Vanishing Point with the Oculus. He hadn’t been able to find her when Rip had dropped them off back in May but he’d had Gideon check and she was in Central City now.

He hadn’t said a word when Sara had fallen in to step next to him. They may not have been talking to each other about anything, especially Leonard, but they were on the same page for this. She wasn’t letting him do this alone.

And now they’d just turned Lisa’s world upside down.

Lisa looked between the two of them. “There’s a way to save him though, right?” There was a desperate hope in her eyes as she asked.

Sara let out a breath. “If there was, we wouldn’t be sitting here,” she said softly. She knew what Lisa was going through, she’d tried to come up with a way to save Laurel without ending up dead herself but she just hadn’t been able to do it.

“You guys have a time ship! Why can’t you just go back and get him out of there?” Lisa burst out, her voice rising.

Mick clenched his jaw for a moment. “There are rules to time travel, Lisa. You can’t mess with events that you witnessed or it could cause time to fold in on itself.” He glanced at Sara. “I thought about bringing it up but then I remembered that and, well, Sara and I were both there, so was the Waverider itself – we can’t just show up with another Waverider.”

Lisa paused. “I wasn’t there though. So, if you could get another ship, you could take me, right? I could interfere with the events and get Lenny out of there and you guys could be waiting on the ship to get us back.”

“And where are we going to get another ship?” Mick asked. “We destroyed those Time Bastards so it’s not like one’s just waiting for us.”

Sara straightened suddenly as she realized something. “Except there is,” she breathed, feeling a bit of hope for the first time in months. She glanced at Lisa and saw the same hope she was feeling sparking in Lisa’s eyes at her actions before Sara turned to Mick. “Yours.”

Mick frowned. “What?”

“Your ship from when you were Chronos. It’s in Nanda Parbat.”

“You honestly think that thing is still there?”

Sara grinned. “It is if we go pick it up from 1960.”

~*~*~

“You think anyone will notice the Waverider is missing?” Lisa asked even as she looked around the bridge in amazement, a look that had appeared as soon as the Waverider had come in to view and hadn’t really faded since. Thanks to her brother, Lisa had quite the love for all things sci-fi and, of course, a time ship was going to be no exception.

Sara and Mick glanced at each other. “Haircut might,” Mick acknowledged. “He likes to come back onboard and mess with things.”

Sara shook her head at that. “He ran off with Nate.” She grinned when Mick snorted.

“Hope they’re happy together,” he muttered, just loud enough for Sara to hear. She laughed, feeling lighter than she had in almost a year. Losing Leonard and then finding out that she’d lost Laurel before that and just hadn’t known about it had left her reeling. She had focused on the loss of Laurel at the time because it had been easier—with Laurel, she had an enemy she could fight. She had a goal: try and kill Damien Darhk in the past so that he couldn’t kill Laurel in the future. Sara might have accepted that she couldn’t kill the Darhk that was running around with Thawne (she still refused to call them the Legion of Doom) but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been keeping an eye out for any time aberrations that took them to or near Star City in 2015 or early 2016.

After all, if she did it that way, she’d only be killing him a few months ahead of time.

But with Leonard, she didn’t have an enemy to fight. The Time Masters had been the reason that the Oculus needed to be destroyed in the first place and Leonard had taken them with him when he’d blown the Oculus up. There was no enemy left for her to go after because who knew what would happen to their past selves if she tried to go back and destroy the Oculus before they ever reached the Vanishing Point? She couldn’t risk it.

But now, with this plan, there was a chance that they could save Leonard and, as much as she wished she could save them both, at least she’d be able to save one of them.

“Gideon,” Sara called, “do you have the date when Mick Rory, Leonard Snart, and I all got back on the Waverider in Nanda Parbat 1960?”

“Yes, Captain. The date and time is saved in my files.”

Sara looked at the other two. “Strap in,” she told them, getting the ship in the air. “Gideon, chart a course for that day, about twenty minutes before we boarded the Waverider.” She glanced at Mick again. “We’ll have to try and time it so that Leonard is already inside and before we all leave.” She paused. “Or hope they don’t spot us.”

Mick nodded though he had a slight smirk on his face. “Our plans never go the way we want, Blondie,” was all he said but Sara understood what he meant. She sighed.

“Let’s just hope it’s not Rip or Ray,” she replied. “I don’t need a lecture and Ray would get excited that you were back on the team and blow it probably.”

Mick laughed but didn’t disagree while Lisa leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. At her look, Sara thought about it and then said, “He’s an odd combination of Cisco Ramon and the Flash.” She wasn’t sure if Lisa knew who the Flash was but better to keep that secret, just in case. Poor kid might as well wear a sign with how many people there were that knew who he really was.

Lisa sat back, thinking about that for a moment before she shook her head. “Huh,” she mused. “I bet Lenny punched him within a day.”

Sara and Mick smirked at that. “Might have been two,” Mick conceded. “Probably because Blondie here started a bar fight on the very first day and we definitely won that.”

Lisa threw her head back and laughed. She sent a grin at Sara that was so similar to the one Sara had rarely seen on Leonard’s face that it hurt. “I think you and I will get along just fine,” she told Sara.

“Snart’s doomed,” Mick muttered, shaking his head.

~*~*~

“Welcome to Nanda Parbat, Lisa.” She glanced over at Mick. “You remember where you parked your ship?”

Mick nodded. “I cloaked it up near the edge of this clearing, closest to that hill that leads down to the League. Didn’t really care about leaving it too clear, you know? I was just here to hurt you guys.”

Lisa looked like she was still having trouble processing that there was a version of Mick out there right now that would be perfectly fine killing her just to hurt her brother. 

“Okay, then let’s go.”

“Blondie, it doesn’t take both of us to get me to the ship,” Mick told her. “You’ll just have to come back to this one anyway.”

“There might be members of the League out there, Mick. They’ll know me in this time and I’m one of the highest in the ranks. It’ll be easier and quicker than you trying to fight passed them to your ship.”

“And me?” Lisa asked. “Because if you think I’m staying alone on here, you’re crazy.”

Sara’s lips twitched. “I’ll say that I’m escorting the two of you in and that you’re new members.” She studied them. “If anyone asks, I’ll have to give them names so you’ll be Dhahabi and Misheal Alnnar.”

Lisa frowned. “And what do those mean?”

This time Sara smiled fully. “Golden and fire starter.” At the meanings, both Lisa and Mick grinned. She couldn’t have picked more perfect names for the two of them.

“Should we change?” Lisa glanced down at herself. She and Sara had both been wearing all black though Sara was wearing a short sleeve shirt with her hair up and Lisa had on her usual leather jacket and her hair down. She may have never been to Nanda Parbat but she was sure that the two of them, plus Mick in his jeans, shirt, and usual green jacket, wouldn’t fit in.

Sara shook her head. “I’ll tell them I had to go get you and that’ll explain the civilian clothes. Let’s go.”

Once they were outside, with Gideon making sure their Waverider was cloaked, Sara and Lisa walked ahead with Mick deliberately lagging behind to make sure that no one tried to surprise them from behind. The only time the silence was broken was when Lisa kicked a rock and ended up hitting the past Waverider with it by accident, the clang echoing in the clearing.

“Oops,” she said.

Sara smirked and shook her head. “Well, at least we know where not to walk now.” They continued walking and, eventually, Sara nodded in the direction that Mick’s ship was likely to be. “There. The rocks on the other side are in too many clusters. Mick would have had to park over there.” They sped up a bit until they got closer and then Sara motioned for Lisa to slow down. “We have no idea how close he parked this sucker and you don’t want to just walk in to it.”

Lisa nodded. “Yeah, that’s not exactly something I’m looking to do.”

Before Sara could respond, another voice said, “Sara? Lisa?”

Breath catching at the sound, Sara and Lisa both spun in the direction of the speaker and stared. 

Leonard.

Lisa made a strangled noise in her throat at the sight of her brother, the expression on his face a mixture of pain and disbelief as he stared at them. There was a hint of fear there too and she suddenly remembered that the Mick he’d just seen had been talking of killing her and now here she was, standing near his ship. Her eyes zeroed in on the stump at the end of his right arm, black with frostbite, and she grabbed Sara’s arm. “You didn’t tell me he _lost a hand_ ,” she hissed, though she knew Leonard could hear her just fine. Everything in her was screaming to run forward and hug him, to make sure he was actually there and alive.

Sara swallowed, her eyes never leaving Leonard. “Well, Leonard will need to act surprised when this comes up,” she said, “but you weren’t told about it because it can be fixed. He’ll have a new hand within the hour.”

Lisa let out a sigh of relief even as Leonard straightened a bit in interest. His eyes narrowed a bit. “Sara, why is Lisa here? And why are you looking for Mick’s ship?” he asked.

“You’re a damsel in distress in the future and we’re your knights in shining armor,” Sara told him, easily slipping back in to the banter that they’d always fallen in to. His lips twitched.

“And it requires you and my sister stealing Mick’s ship?”

“Well, not just us, but yeah.”

“Who else?”

As if he’d been waiting for his cue, Mick called out as he rounded the corner, “Blondie, the two of you find it yet? We need to hurry if we’re going to get you two back to the Waverider before—“ He stopped at the sight of Leonard, who had taken an involuntary step in Lisa’s direction at the sight of Mick before forcing himself to go still. “Well, fuck.”

“You did say that our plans never go the way we want,” Sara pointed out with a sigh.

His lips twitched. “Least it’s not English or Haircut like you were worried about. Guess you should have timed it better.”

“Like I knew he came back ahead of everyone. I was packing while they waited in the entryway.”

“Yeah, well I was unconscious,” Mick shot back. Sara crossed her arms.

“Oh sure, the old I was unconscious excuse,” she muttered to Lisa, who snorted with laughter before covering her mouth. Mick and Sara had been acting like bickering siblings and much...lighter than they’d been when she’d first seen them from the moment that they had decided to go forward with this plan.

Leonard glanced between them before focusing on Mick. “Mick?” He looked like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

“Hey, Boss,” was all Mick told him, a slight smile on his face at the sight of his partner. The smile disappeared when his eyes flicked down to the stump where his right hand should be and he let out a breath and looked away at the sight of the icy and jagged edges where Leonard had frozen and smashed his own hand off.

“You’re...back. Part of the team,” Leonard said slowly. Mick looked back at him and then glanced over Leonard’s shoulder to be sure that the others weren’t coming yet.

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Like you said, people change.” He moved forward, stopping near Sara and Lisa. “But don’t try and talk to me about it until Blondie here starts nagging you about it. Ow! What the hell?” he demanded when Sara turned and punched him hard in the arm. “That’s crew abuse.”

“I don’t nag,” she snapped.

Lisa stared at the two of them in disbelief. “How does your team ever get anything done?”

Sara glanced at her. “Dumb luck.”

“I really, really believe that.”

Mick frowned at Sara. “That’s not true,” he disagreed. “You had that plan when we fought the ninjas.”

“You were late!”

“I was fighting the other ninjas,” he protested. Sara rolled her eyes and waved a hand in the air as if to dismiss what he’d said.

“Excuses.”

This time it was Mick that rolled his eyes. “Fine, then how about when we had to save Georgie? That turned out okay.”

Sara crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Really, Mick? Really?”

“What? It did—it’s not like it’s the first time you’ve died and Gideon brought you back.” Neither of them noticed that Leonard’s focus snapped to them both at that though Lisa took in the way he ran his eyes over Sara as if double checking that she was actually still there.

“You just like that mission because George Washington loved you and now there’s a statue in your honor,” Sara said. Mick grinned at her while Lisa’s eyes lit up and Leonard raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Plus, Haircut still groans when I tell him I’m his forefather so he should be more respectful.”

Sara couldn’t have stopped the laugh from escaping if she had tried. She’d seen Ray’s face when Mick had first said that and it never stopped being funny.

She knew they should probably watch what they were saying but, frankly, Leonard hadn’t been involved in any of those missions and he still wouldn’t be so it wasn’t as if he’d ever have the chance to interfere in events.

Besides, she knew that her latest death bothered Mick a lot more than he was letting on. He had been furious when he’d heard that Rip had actually managed to kill her and then gotten away with their piece of the Spear of Destiny. The fact that he was making a joke about it now told her that he was willing to do what she’d asked and not treat it as a huge deal. She wanted to simply move on and not think about it, no matter how unlikely it was that she’d be able to.

Shaking her head, she glanced down the hill and let out a breath when she saw that there was still no one coming. “They’re still inside but we still better get a move on before Rip and the others come out. That’s the last thing we need.”

“Don’t want a lecture about taking Lisa out of her time and not telling anyone when you took the ship?” Mick asked knowingly.

“Well, like he’d even _know_ that I hadn’t told anyone.”

“Better safe than sorry though,” Lisa agreed. “If he does see us, he might put in some sort of protocol against it, right?”

“Oh, I doubt it’d work now,” Sara said thinking of the fact that she was the current captain. “But you’re right. Mick, you can get on your ship without any issues, I’m guessing?”

“Goldwin, uncloak the ship,” Mick called out. They all took a step back when the ship suddenly appeared, the ramp still down from when Leonard had left.

“Wow, if we hadn’t come back that would just be sitting like that for years,” Lisa observed. Mick made a face. 

“Let’s not talk about it.” He started to board the ship and paused, glancing back at Sara and Lisa. “I’ll see you back in 2017.” His eyes moved to Leonard. “See you soon, Boss.” Without waiting for a reply, he boarded and closed the ramp behind him. They watched as the ship took off and then disappeared before Sara turned to Leonard.

“You’re on our way,” Sara told him. “I parked our Waverider behind the one you guys are using.” Rather than reply out loud, he simply studied her for another moment and then nodded. The three of them began to walk towards the past Waverider.

After a bit, Leonard finally said, “You’re going to die again.” His voice was low and pained and Sara glanced worriedly at the way he held his right arm against his chest, the handcuffs Mick had used still hanging from his left wrist. She swallowed at the words.

“Yes.”

“How?” he asked.

Sara glanced at him. Based on the look on his face, she knew exactly what he was trying to figure out. “You won’t be able to stop it,” she told him. “You weren’t there when it happened.”

Leonard scowled. “Rip have me on some assignment?”

“Let’s just say it was because of a mission.” It wasn’t really a lie, after all. Destroying the Oculus had been a mission. She was simply letting him assume that he was on another part of that particular mission with George Washington instead.

His jaw clenched as they kept walking and she knew that he was making a note to himself not to agree to go anywhere but with her when the mission involving George Washington came about. Leonard wouldn’t know until they were at the Oculus that he wouldn’t ever have the chance to prevent it.

“You know, Lenny,” Lisa said, breaking the tension, “when you said you were going to be out of touch for your latest job, you never said a thing about _time travel_.” 

Leonard scoffed and shot Lisa a look. “Yes,” he drawled. “That would have been so believable.” At the familiar drawl, Sara fought back a smile. She knew that Lisa had been staying quiet earlier and letting her and Mick have their time with Leonard while she’d been taking him in and reveling in the fact that he was alive despite the story that Mick and Sara had told her barely an hour ago.

Now it was Sara’s turn to stay quiet while she had her moment with her brother.

She casually sped up, letting them talk quietly. 

“I like her, Lenny,” Lisa told him softly. He glanced over at her and she smiled. “You know she gave me a name in Arabic in case we got caught. She was going to say I was a new recruit to keep them away from me.”

Leonard tilted his head slightly. “What name did she give you?”

She paused as she thought of how Sara had said the name before repeating it. “Dhahabi. It means golden.”

A small smile appeared on his face. “Suits you.”

Lisa gave him a bright smile. “I liked it.” She slid her arm through his, letting him rest a bit of his weight against her. “She named Mick something that I can’t pronounce at all but apparently means fire starter.”

The small smile turned to a full blown grin. “I’m sure he appreciated that.”

“He did.” She squeezed his arm lightly. “So, Sara told me this Ray guy is like a combination of Cisco and the Flash. I said you probably punched him within a day but Mick couldn’t remember. He said it might have been two because of that bar fight that Sara started.”

Leonard smirked. “You’re not wrong. It was technically the first night. I told him to take his hand off me and he wouldn’t so I punched him.”

Lisa shook her head. She knew that was one surefire way to get on Lenny’s bad side. He hated being touched by people that he didn’t trust and if it was the first night and Ray hadn’t let him go? She didn’t doubt that her brother hadn’t hesitated to punch him.

“Well, I guess he’ll listen next time.”

“I’m not sure. It’s been two years for him since we’ve seen each other if I heard Mick’s A.I. right and it’s really 1960. He, Sara, and one of our other teammates were left in 1958.” He paused. “And Ray seems like he’s a hugger.”

“Can’t have that,” Lisa deadpanned. “I’m sure the missing hand will make him hesitate.” She glanced down at his left hand. “I’d offer to help with the cuffs but those are a bit out of my league when it comes to locks I can pick.”

Leonard shook his head. “Better this way. If you did it, I’d have to explain how I got them off.”

“True.” They stopped as they reached Sara, who had already stopped walking. “Is this it?”

“If I’m remembering right, it’s close. This is right around where you hit it with that rock.”

Leonard snorted. “Kicking rocks while walking again?”

“Well, it kept me from walking in to the ship so I’m not sorry,” Lisa told him. He smirked.

Sara held out a hand and moved forward slowly until she felt the surface of the Waverider beneath her palm. “Here it is.” She glanced back when Lisa and Leonard walked forward so that Leonard could lean back against the ship and she smiled a bit at the fact that it looked like he was leaning against nothing. She looked away when Lisa wrapped her arms around Leonard in a hug, surprising him.

“I’ll see you soon, Lenny,” she whispered once he’d wrapped his left arm carefully around her. Leonard smiled down at her.

“See you soon, sis,” he assured her, despite the fact that he had no idea how much longer it would be for him. She smiled back and kissed his cheek before pulling away and stepping back. As she turned and began to walk away, she raised an eyebrow at Sara as she passed her.

“This better be the right direction,” she called back. Sara snorted.

“A bit further back but yeah, you’re fine.” Sara turned to find Leonard watching her with a slight smirk on his face and she took a step closer to him. “I’ll take care of her,” she promised.

He nodded, the smirk turning to a small smile. “I know.”

The absolute conviction in those two words took her breath away and she wondered how, in the past, she’d missed the fact that he’d come to trust her so much. That knowledge combined with how much she missed him caused her to throw caution out the window.

“Hell with it,” she muttered too low for him to hear. Sara stepped in to his space, her hands coming to rest on his upper arms, and lifted herself on her tiptoes, pressing her mouth to his softly. She felt him stiffen in surprise and then relax after a few seconds, wrapping his left arm around her and kissing her back and it was so much better than their first kiss (second kiss for him now, she supposed). This one was full of hope and promises that she couldn’t say out loud yet rather than regrets and might have beens.

Slowly, she pulled back, reaching up with one hand to cup his cheek. “I’ll see you soon, Len,” she whispered. Leonard stared down at her, a look of wonder in his eyes at the look in her eyes as she gazed up at him.

“Sara.”

She shook her head, swiping her thumb along his cheekbone. “Not yet.” She leaned up and pressed a quick kiss to his lips one more time before stepping back. 

Leonard stared at her, his lips lifting in a soft smile before he nodded. “Soon.”

“Soon,” she agreed, returning his smile with one of her own before she turned and walked away.

_Soon._

~*~*~

“Do you really think he’ll help?” Lisa asked, checking one more time to be sure she had her gold gun as Sara pulled out her phone.

“He will,” Sara assured her, scrolling down to Barry’s name. She gave Lisa a small smile. “And if he doesn’t, we’ll do it anyway. It’ll just mean that I might need to get down and cover you and Leonard while you run like hell back to the ship.”

Mick nodded in agreement even as Lisa gave them a grateful look. Seeing the past Leonard had made them all more determined to go through with this. The two time ships were parked and cloaked in the large lot that Rip had originally asked them to meet him on that very first day. Technically, they were ready to go but Sara had realized that they’d have a much better chance at success if they had the help of the Flash.

Taking a deep breath, Sara hit send and walked far enough away that her voice wouldn’t carry back to Mick and Lisa.

“Sara?” Barry said as he answered. “Is everything okay? Ray said you were telling Lisa about...about Snart.”

“We’re fine, Barry,” she told him quietly. “But we figured something out and I’d like to talk to you about it.”

“Of course,” he agreed and she couldn’t help but smile at how readily he agreed to it despite the fact that she was sure Central City had plenty of their own problems that he was dealing with.

“Can you come meet me? I think this will be better done in person.” She paused. “Lisa is still here and, as far as I know, she doesn’t know who you are.”

There was a smile in Barry’s voice when he said, “I’ll come in uniform.”

She laughed and gave him their location. “See you in a couple of minutes.”

Sure enough, she had barely turned to say that he was on his way when Barry came skidding to a stop next to her.

“Hi, Sara,” he greeted, unable to completely mask the look of concern on his face.

“I promise everything’s fine,” she told him. “But there’s something I need to ask you. And it’s okay if you say no, okay?”

Barry straightened and glanced over to where Mick was clearly trying to keep Lisa distracted. “Okay,” he said. “Shoot.”

Just as she had before calling him, she took a deep breath. “We figured out a way to save Leonard without changing the timeline.” She shook her head when it looked like he was about to speak. “Let me tell you the rest and then I’ll try to answer any questions you have.”

Barry let out a breath and nodded. “I’m listening.”

“Mick and I hadn’t tried this because there are certain things you’re not supposed to do with time travel. One of them is interfere with events that you witnessed because it could cause time to fold in on itself.” She pressed her lips together. “Think about it. If we went to that moment, the past version of me might see us if we cut it too close. I was dragging an unconscious Mick back to the Waverider. If we go too early, then the past version of me _and_ Mick might see us, not to mention any of the past versions of the rest of the team. If that happens, they might do something differently, changing how things happen which changes the timeline. Are you with me so far?”

“Yeah.” Barry nodded. “If your past selves do something differently then events happen differently and you might not go back to change things. But if you don’t go back, then they never see you so they do things the same way they did originally which is what causes you to go back. It’s a paradox.”

Sara smiled and nodded. “Exactly. That’s where Lisa and you, if you agree, come in. When we’re at the Vanishing Point, there will be a small window of time that we have to get Leonard out of there. But it can’t be me or Mick because even if he was unconscious and I got on the Waverider, if our timing is off we could still be spotted. Not to mention that we can’t show up with a second Waverider. I’m pretty sure the past version of Rip would notice that. But, as Lisa pointed out, she wasn’t there so she _can_ interfere.”

“But that leaves the issue of the time ship.” Barry hesitated. “That’s not where I come in, right? Because I have no way of getting a time ship.”

Laughing, Sara shook her head. Barry looked surprised at the sound and then he smiled a bit. From what he’d seen, Sara didn’t laugh too often so it was nice to see.

“No,” she confirmed. “We had access to another one that we had forgotten about since we had left it back in 1960. We got back from picking it up not too long ago.” 

Barry’s eyes lit up. “Really?” He _still_ hadn’t gotten his chance to take a trip on the Waverider or any other time ship, something that Cisco took pleasure in pointing out whenever he wanted to annoy Barry.

“Really.” Her expression turned serious. “The part where you come in involves that small window of time that I mentioned. There’s enough time for Lisa to get to Leonard if she runs. I know she’ll be able to convince him to leave with her so that’s not a problem and then they have to run back to the ship. They should have enough time but it’ll be cutting it extremely close, especially if they have to fight their way passed the guards and Time Masters there.”

“Unless,” Barry said, realizing exactly where Sara was going with her explanation, “a speedster ran Lisa passed them all and then ran her and Snart back to the ship.”

Sara nodded. “Yeah.” She glanced away. “You don’t have to say yes. After the way I reacted over Flashpoint—“

“Hey,” Barry cut her off. “No. First, you already apologized over that and you didn’t even need to. Second, that reaction wasn’t the wrong one, okay? I screwed with everyone’s lives just because I didn’t like something that had happened to me. You’re not talking about changing years of everyone’s lives or even changing the timeline at all. You want to save someone’s life.”

Sara’s lips lifted in a small smile. “I’m not exactly doing this for unselfish reasons, Barry.”

“It’s never for unselfish reasons. I tried to save my mom. You’re trying to save your...teammate.” His eyes met hers and he smiled slightly, letting her know that he recognized that Leonard was much more than simply a teammate to her though he wouldn’t make her say it. “If there was a way to save Laurel, we’d both take it because she’s your sister and my friend.”

Her breath hitched at that and she nodded before her smile slowly widened. “You’ll help?”

Barry nodded, his own smile growing to match hers. “I’ll help.”

Sara leaned over to look around him, getting Mick and Lisa’s attention. “He’s in!”

~*~*~

Barry had agreed to go but had also wanted to tell Iris that he was going with them and then he’d come back. He’d considered just waiting to tell her after they got back but Sara had objected.

“You can ignore my advice,” she told him. “But I’d tell her before. Just because this is supposed to be in and out doesn’t mean that something might not go wrong.” She smiled a bit. “Don’t pull a Leonard, Barry. He didn’t tell Lisa anything except that he’d be out of touch and look how that would have ended if she hadn’t figured out that loophole of taking her to that moment in time to save him.”

The look on Barry’s face told Sara that he hadn’t even thought of that and he nodded. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.” He paused. “I don’t know how long it’ll take to get to the Vanishing Point but I’d like to be comfortable while we’re on our way there.”

Sara knew immediately what he was getting at. “If you’re willing to tell Lisa, she can be trusted. Even if she would have told someone before, you’re agreeing to help save her brother. She’ll keep your secret.”

Barry nodded. “Then I’ll see you in a bit” He ran off and Sara headed back to where Mick and Lisa were standing.

“He’s going to go let a few people know what he’s doing and then he’ll be back.” She paused and then added, “He also said he wanted to be comfortable on his way to the Vanishing Point and not have to keep his face covered so he’s going to tell you who he is. Leonard knew and we know so he figured he’d tell you too.”

The look on Lisa’s face said she knew exactly how much trust was being given to her here. Lenny had never even hinted that he knew who the Flash was and neither had Mick, though when Sara turned out to have his number she had figured that they both must know. Especially when Mick had revealed that they’d helped him stop aliens from destroying the world. Not to mention that the guy was also Cisco’s friend and she had a soft spot for Cisco.

Her brother had never told anyone the secret, not even her, and she wouldn’t reveal it to anyone either.

“I won’t tell anyone,” she swore. Sara smiled.

“That’s what I said when he checked to see if it was a good idea or not actually.”

Lisa blinked at that and glanced at Mick, who was smirking a bit. She made a face at him and then smiled at Sara. There were very few people in her life that had backed her up and had faith in her. If it had even been a month ago, she wasn’t sure she would have agreed to keep that secret but knowing what would happen to Lenny and knowing that the Flash was going to help prevent it? She wasn’t going to break the guy’s trust.

It was only ten minutes later that the Flash came to a stop in front of them. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Sara tilted her head. “Any trouble?” 

He shook his head. “No, Iris knows what Snart did for everyone and when I told her there was a way to save him without changing the timeline, she told me to get moving.” He paused and then turned to Lisa and, after taking a deep breath, pulled his cowl back to reveal someone much younger than she’d been expecting. “Hi,” he told her. “I’m Barry Allen. The Flash.”

Lisa stared at him for a moment and then gave him a small smile and a nod. “Hi, Barry, I’m Lisa Snart. Golden Glider.”

Barry grinned at the name and then glanced at Mick. “Hey, Rory.”

Mick nodded. “Red.” Then he smirked and called over his shoulder, “Goldwin, uncloak the ship.” He full out grinned when Barry’s eyes widened as the ship appeared.

“Holy...that is an actual time ship,” Barry breathed.

“You’ve seen the Waverider, I’m not sure why you’re so surprised.”

“Because I get to ride in this one!” Barry grinned even as Sara shook her head with a smile and Mick rolled his eyes.

“Shut up and get on the ship, Red.”

~*~*~

Leonard closed his eyes as Sara pressed her forehead against his and couldn’t help but think that he preferred the first kiss she’d given him—though he supposed it hadn’t been their first kiss for her. That kiss in 1960 had been slow and soft with a feeling of see you soon. This kiss, here and now, felt like a realization, regrets, and a goodbye. Then there was the look in her eyes. He could see she had started to realize how she felt but there was a hint of sadness there too. But before that, when he’d seen the other her in 1960, had been different. He couldn’t think of a time when anyone had looked at him the way that Sara had looked at him that day.

He had made a habit of lying to a lot of people over the years, that was true, but if there was one person that Leonard didn’t lie to, it was himself. He had already known that he had feelings for Sara. But he’d also known that Sara wasn’t quite in the same place as he was yet.

The Sara that had kissed him in Nanda Parbat though? She had been right there with him. It had been the look in her eyes after she’d kissed him that he’d been thinking of whenever he caught himself thinking about what kind of future he and Sara could have together.

He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to change the timeline. He’d been keeping an eye out for situations that would bring Lisa and the other Sara to him but he hadn’t seen them at all since Nanda Parbat.

Leonard opened his eyes and watched as Sara started to pull back before pausing and lifting her eyes to his. They stared at each other and Leonard let his lips twitch up in to a barely there smile, hoping to reassure her even just a little bit. Whether it worked or not, he didn’t know but it was enough to get her moving. He kept his eyes on her as she hefted Mick up and then grabbed the cold gun. Sara shot one last look at Leonard before she began to drag Mick to the Waverider as quickly as she could.

Watching her go, Leonard could only hope that whatever had changed in the timeline would also prevent Sara from dying again—no matter that Gideon would be able to bring her back.

As soon as she was out of sight, Leonard let out a small sigh of relief and then focused on his surroundings. He smirked when the dick that Rip had called Druce came to a stop near him, a horrified realization appearing on his face as he figured out what Leonard was doing. Even as others began to gather around him, waiting for what Druce would have to say, a strong wind whipped through the room and then Lisa was standing where Sara had been while the Time Masters flew backwards.

And suddenly, Leonard understood.

_“You’re a damsel in distress in the future and we’re your knights in shining armor.”_

Leonard stared as Lisa pulled out her gold gun and one half of Sara’s bo staff before she raised an eyebrow at him. Immediately knowing what she wanted, he let go of the fail safe and stepped back to make room for her in front of the Oculus. He raised an eyebrow when the red blur came to a stop near them, revealing Barry Allen.

“Hey, Snart.” Barry grinned and actually waved at him.

“You know,” he said, his voice an odd mix of disbelief and amusement, “when Sara said you were going to be my knights in shining armor, she didn’t say a thing about the Flash being part of the rescue mission.”

“Barry was a last minute addition,” Lisa replied quietly, slipping the bo staff in to the Oculus and locking it in to place. She smirked when his eyebrows shot up in surprise at her casual use of Barry’s name and then covered the half bo staff in gold, nodding when it hardened almost immediately. No one would be able to stop this now. “Let’s move!”

Leonard didn’t have a chance to ask what she meant before the world was nothing but a blur around him before it came back in to abrupt focus on the bridge of a ship he was all too familiar with.

“Damn it, Barry, warn a guy,” he snapped as he settled back against the wall that he’d practically been tossed in to.

“Snark at Barry later. Brace yourself on something.”

Leonard turned his head so fast, he was surprised he didn’t hurt himself. He sucked in a breath at the sight of Sara settling down next to him. She slipped her hand in to his and wrapped the other around the metal bar that ran along the wall. Following her lead, Leonard wrapped his free hand around the bar then shifted his hold on her hand so that their fingers interlocked. Glancing to his other side, he shook his head at the sight of Barry and Lisa with both hands around the bar above them and grins on their faces as if this were a ride at an amusement park. He turned back towards Sara and paused when he saw her watching him with a small smile on her face. His eyebrows lifted in a silent question and her smile widened a bit.

“I missed you,” she confessed quietly.

Leonard squeezed her hand and tugged her closer so that she was pressed against his side. His hand tightened around the bar as Mick sped away from the Vanishing Point as quickly as he could causing them to fly back against the wall. He glanced down at Sara, noting the way she had pressed her forehead against his shoulder and leaned down until his mouth was just above her ear.

“It’s only been a couple of months since I saw you and Lisa in Nanda Parbat,” he told her softly. He closed his eyes for a moment and pressed his lips against her hair before pulling back and ducking his head so that he could see Sara’s profile. “How long has it been for you, Sara?” Not since Nanda Parbat, he was sure that was just earlier in the day for them since they were in the same clothes and he could tell she understood by the way she pressed her lips together.

“Nine months. We came from February 2017,” she admitted.

His hand tightened around hers again, though she didn’t seem to mind, simply returning his bruising grip with one of her own. Nearly a year. He’d been dead for her for nearly a year. Rather than try and comfort her with words, he pulled her closer and rested his cheek against her temple, very pointedly ignoring the fact that there was anyone else in the room.

“I missed you too.” And he had. Of course he’d realized his feelings for Sara and he’d been perfectly willing to wait until she felt the same—he knew the value of patience and he hadn’t been willing to screw things up with Sara by pushing too much too soon. But he’d caught himself thinking about the Sara that had been in Nanda Parbat at random times over the past couple of months and wishing for the Sara in his time to look at him the way this Sara did. 

Neither of them moved for a few moments, their grip on each other and the railing tightening when the ship shook in the aftermath of the Oculus exploding. Rather than think of what would have happened if they hadn’t come back for him, Leonard pulled back and looked down at Sara, raising an eyebrow when she lifted her head to meet his gaze.

“So,” he said, keeping his voice low, “what have I missed?” He fought not to frown or tense at the grief that flickered in Sara’s eyes before the look was gone, masked with a teasing smirk.

“I slept with the Queen of France,” she told him. “On the day she was supposed to sleep with the King and get pregnant.”

Leonard couldn’t have stopped the small burst of laughter if he’d tried. “Good taste.”

“Me or her?” Sara asked, lips twitching.

“Both.”

She flashed him a quick smile. “You should have seen Rip’s face when I cut off his rant by telling him that she seduced me.”

Making the decision not to push her about the grief he’d seen just yet, Leonard kept up their banter. “I’m sure it was a sight to behold.”

She hummed in agreement. “It was. Kind of like Nate’s face when I first met him.”

Leonard paused. “Nate?” That was one he didn’t know. Had to be some new sucker that Rip had recruited. He wondered if Nate was supposed to be his replacement.

Replaced in less than a year. Well now Leonard just felt cheap. 

“He’s a historian,” Sara told him. She grinned in Mick’s direction. “Mick went from calling him New Guy to Pretty Boy.” Her grin brightened at the look on Leonard’s face. “Nate and Ray are pretty much attached at the hip.”

That was just a horrifying thought. Two of them. “...I can stay here on Mick’s ship instead of the Waverider, right?”

Sara laughed. “Well, you could but that’d get a bit lonely, I bet.”

Leonard frowned as if he were weighing his options. “Might be worth it.”

This time, she rolled her eyes. “I’ll let Mick know you want some quality time with his A.I.”

“Pretty sure he’s not that kind of A.I., Assassin,” Leonard replied with a smirk. Sara rolled her eyes again and looked away in a half-hearted attempt to hide her smile causing Leonard’s smirk to briefly melt in to a fond smile. Before she could notice, he schooled his features back in to a smirk. “Now tell me...what made Nate’s face pull a Rip?”

“It was one of two things,” Sara mused. “Either it was the way I nearly bashed in his and Ray’s heads when the team showed up where I was or it was the fact that one of the men had just announced that I was to be hanged for corrupting the women of Salem.”

As she said it, her lips pursed slightly in a way that told Leonard she was biting the inside of her cheek, which he knew she only did when she was either nervous about something or deep in thought. Considering the way her eyes had ticked up to his and then away, it was probably the former.

And he had a feeling he knew what was making her nervous.

“Corrupted the women of Salem, huh? Did you go for all the women in the village or did you slack off there?”

There was a relieved edge to her laugh as she said, “All the _willing_ women.”

“Anything else?” He had a feeling that she wouldn’t tell him the worst of it until they were at least out of earshot of the others but he had to ask.

She paused and then met his eyes. “Rip went and joined the dark side.”

Leonard stared at her, unsure if he’d heard correctly. “Rip _what_?”

“I know.” Sara nodded. “And they didn’t even have cookies.”

The ship steadied as they finally escaped the explosion and the debris that had come from it and Mick snorted, speaking for the first time since Leonard had gotten on the ship. “Sure, it’s funny now, Blondie. You weren’t laughing when you had to talk the kid down from killing Rip after he killed you.”

At that, Leonard went very still, his hand tightening on Sara’s until his knuckles went white as he fought back the fury that Mick’s words had caused. “Rip did what?” he asked, voice and eyes hard.

Sara squeezed his hand and stood, pulling him up as well. “Mick, we’ll be in the other room,” she said, grateful that the ship had steadied enough for them to be able to walk around.

Leonard didn’t speak or let go of Sara’s hand as they walked down the hallway towards the med bay and what looked to be a training room. He absently took in the details as they walked, automatically noting the spot in the wall that he was sure opened up to Mick’s room. He let out a breath when they entered the training room and Sara pulled him to the floor, settling next to him the way that she had when they had nearly frozen to death.

When he finally spoke, there was an edge to Leonard’s voice. “Rip killed you.”

Sara’s voice was deliberately free of emotion when she answered. “Yes.”

Leonard looked over at her, the lack of emotion in her voice telling him that he was going to hate this story even more than he’d originally thought. “What happened?”

She paused and thought about it. “It started when Rip scattered us through time to keep us from getting killed,” she told him. From there, she touched briefly on Nate contacting Oliver about Sara and Ray being in danger and then going to get each member of the team with Mick’s help, how Gideon hadn’t been able to tell them what had happened to Rip, how they’d found him in film school with George Lucas and going by the name Phil with almost no memory of them (though Leonard made a note to find that script and mark it up with critiques—in red ink), and how the Reverse Flash had taken him before they could get him on the Waverider.

And then there was the mission that had killed Sara.

“Mick and I were getting Washington out of there when Rip showed up.” Sara shook her head, a bit of anger at herself in her voice. “I didn’t even realize anything was off. He just walked in to the path in front of us, looking like Rip again, and I stepped forward while Mick stayed next to Washington. ‘Hello, Sara.’ That’s what he said to me, right before he lifted his gun and shot me in the gut. He sounded like he was just...talking about the weather. ‘Goodbye, Sara.’ I remember Mick catching me and shouting at Rip.” She frowned. “He wasn’t alone. He had his own men and he ordered them to take Mick and Washington. Rip told them to leave me there. I guess he thought I’d just stay there and bleed out in the snow.”

Leonard forced himself to relax his jaw. “How did you get back to the Waverider in time to be healed?”

Sara closed her eyes and shook her head, letting out a breath. “That’s not how I died,” she told him.

“Then how?” he asked, fighting to keep his voice even. 

“It was on the Waverider. I managed to get back to it but Rip had used an EMP so there was no power on the ship, Ray couldn’t get back to his normal size, and Jax and Martin couldn’t merge to become Firestorm. They found that out after I threw enough rocks at the ship to get them to open the door. There was no Gideon and they were going to...well, honestly, I was barely conscious by that point. They were going to merge and use their powers to do something about the bullet and fix me up. Instead, Martin had to dig the bullet out and stitch the wound up.” Sara dropped her head back against the wall. “From what Jax told me, while Martin was fixing me up, he was giving Rip hell and making Rip chase him throughout the ship.” She grinned when Leonard snorted.

“Nice one, kid,” he muttered.

“Yeah,” Sara agreed. “But Rip figured out that I’d gotten back to the ship. I was just starting to come to when he knocked Martin out and decided to use me as leverage against Jax.”

Leonard could feel the anger building already. “What did he do?”

She put her hand at his throat, the tips pointed at his windpipe like a spear. “I wasn’t really entirely conscious but between what I remember and what Jax said, Rip choked me and then he had his hand on me like this.” Sara frowned and lowered her hand. “I’ll tell you more about it later but there’s something called the Spear of Destiny that’s in pieces and the Reverse Flash and his...partners want to put it back together. We had the piece that Rip had used to disappear and Jax had hidden it. Jax told him where the piece was to get Rip to stop strangling me.” She smiled a bit sadly at how honest Jax was, how he’d believed that doing so would save her. “Rip killed me anyway by slamming his fingers into my neck and...” She shrugged. “Snap.”

He reached out and slid his hand up her neck, turning her so that she was looking at him as he cupped her cheek. The fingers on his free hand curled in to a fist.

He wanted to take Rip Hunter apart.

Sara gave him a knowing look, her lips tilting up in a small smile. “I’m okay.”

“You weren’t,” he countered.

“No,” she agreed. “I wasn’t.” She sighed. “Martin was the one that figured out how to heal me. He realized that if they could get the power back on, Gideon could possibly heal me. Ray was back on the ship even if he was still shrunk and Martin directed him on where to go to get the power back on. Once he’d flipped the switch, Gideon confirmed to Martin that there was still time to bring me back. My brain cells were still functioning even though my heart had stopped so Gideon was able to heal me and bring me back.”

Leonard had no idea if it was possible to do something for the A.I. but, if it was, he’d find it and do it. 

Maybe he’d convince them to go to a time in the future and steal some upgrades for Gideon.

“Sara,” he said softly. “What else?” He didn’t elaborate but he knew by the look on her face that she understood what he was asking. Leonard felt dread building in him when Sara closed her eyes to hide the tears that began to well. “Sara.”

She pressed her lips together, breath hitching before she slowly took a deep breath. “After the Oculus,” she told him, “Rip took us back to Central City. He dropped us off in May 2016.” Sara opened her eyes, her gaze meeting his and a part of Leonard wanted to tell her to stop because whatever had done this to Sara wasn’t something he wanted to know about. But that wouldn’t help anything, it wasn’t what she needed, so he stayed silent. “Damien Darhk killed Laurel in April.”

Leonard used his grip on her to pull her against him, wrapping his arms around her. He pressed his face against her hair when she made a strangled noise in her throat and then he felt tears begin to soak his shoulder. If he knew Sara, after letting herself break once or twice, she’d have focused on her anger and let it fuel her rather than allowing herself the chance to actually grieve for her sister. 

Nothing he said would make this better so he stayed silent, simply holding her instead. He thought of what he’d have done if it had been the opposite. If he had thought Sara was dead only to come back and find out that Lisa had been murdered. 

Knowing exactly what he would have done, he couldn’t help but ask, “What happened that caused you to not go back?” It’s what he would have tried to do. He knew Sara would have thought of it right away.

Sara let out a shaky breath. “Rip,” she confessed. “Rip refused to go back. He knocked me out and when I woke up, he told me that in the original timeline, Darhk hadn’t just killed Laurel. He killed me and my dad too.”

Of fucking course.

Leonard’s arms tightened around her and he vowed to shoot Rip with the cold gun the next time he saw the man. Not that Leonard wanted anything to happen to Sara but already he could imagine a plan or two that could have been used to save Laurel Lance without risking Sara. It would have involved using the other members of the team and Sara staying on the ship but if it meant successfully saving Laurel? Leonard doubted that Sara would have gone against that plan.

“Why not use the team?” he asked, voicing his thoughts.

“He said it wouldn’t change anything.”

Somehow, Leonard doubted that. After all, how could Rip know that? Even if he’d checked before the Oculus was destroyed, that meant that Leonard was there for it and that meant it was different circumstances. There was no way for them to predict how things would go if only a few members of the team went and Sara stayed behind and Leonard wasn’t there. 

The fact that Rip hadn’t even been willing to try pissed Leonard off. After everything they’d done to try and save Rip’s family (which, from what he’d pieced together, hadn’t even worked but at least they’d _tried_ ), he couldn’t be bothered to make the same attempt for Sara?

Well, Leonard supposed Rip might be feeling guilty over Leonard’s death and hadn’t wanted to risk losing another member of the team. But Leonard was also sure that if Rip had asked, the team would have done it. They’d have gone to at least try and save Laurel for Sara. She was their friend, their teammate, there was no way they wouldn’t have tried to save her family when they’d agreed to stay on the mission to go after Savage and save Rip’s family back when they had barely known or trusted him.

But, then again, Savage hadn’t been defeated at the time, had he? And Leonard couldn’t help but wonder if Rip hadn’t been willing to risk it when they were so close to defeating Savage.

He supposed he’d never know now since he doubted a Rip that was willing to kill Sara was going to be willing to have a chat about his old thought process.

As they sat there, an idea began to form and he frowned as he considered it. Before he brought it up to Mick and the others, he wanted to confirm something first. 

“Goldwin,” he called, voice low as he used the name that he remembered Mick saying months ago. 

“How can I help you, Mr. Snart?”

Leonard hesitated for only a moment before asking, “Are you capable of creating a replica of someone’s body? One realistic enough that not even an autopsy would reveal it to be fake?” As he finished speaking, he felt Sara go completely still against him and her hands clench in the fabric of his jacket.

“As long as I have a sample of the person’s DNA, I can,” the A.I. confirmed. “It is one of the requirements for any artificial intelligence working with the Time Master’s bounty hunters.”

“Thank you.” 

Sara let out a shaky breath as she pulled back slightly. “Leonard?”

He looked down, meeting her gaze. “I have an idea,” he told her. “But I’m going to need you to trust me.”

She didn’t even hesitate. “I do.”

Leonard stared at her for a moment, hiding his surprise at the quick answer. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had responded to that particular request so readily. Even Lisa had paused and considered him before agreeing the last time he’d asked her to trust him. And Mick...well, saying that the trust between them had become shaky was an understatement. Though Mick was here and working with Barry Allen, of all people, to save Leonard so maybe that trust wasn’t as shaky as Leonard had thought.

He’d find out soon enough.

~*~*~

“I think that would actually work,” Mick said, nodding as he thought about the plan that Leonard had just laid out. “Goldwin can definitely do it. He had to create a few replicas of people I hunted down for the Time Masters.” He glanced at Barry. “What about you, Red?”

Barry nodded. “I can do it.” He glanced at Sara and smiled. “I made a promise, after all.”

Sara returned his smile with one of her own as she remembered what he’d said earlier. “It wasn’t exactly a promise.”

Barry shrugged. “It was implied.”

Sara laughed and Barry grinned at the sight again. He stuck by his thoughts from earlier—Sara needed to laugh more. 

Leonard raised an eyebrow at the exchange between the two who, as far as he knew, hadn’t even met before. Clearly that had changed in the last nine months and he wondered just what had brought about that particular change.

“Aliens,” Mick suddenly said.

Leonard wasn’t the only one that shot him a look of surprise. “What?”

Mick shrugged. “That’s how Red and Blondie here met. You had that look on your face that said you were trying to figure it out.”

“Aliens,” Leonard repeated slowly.

Sara let out a breath. “Aliens were gearing up to make Independence Day a reality. Barry called in reinforcements to help out.”

“Team Legends and Team Arrow and my friend Supergirl,” Barry explained. “She’s from an alternate version of Earth.”

“Also kicks ass and is hot,” Mick added.

“Amen to that,” Sara agreed.

Barry stared at them in realization. “Cisco was totally telling the truth about you guys girl watching that day of the award ceremony, wasn’t he?”

Mick grinned while Sara smirked. “Prove it, Red,” he said. Barry snorted and shook his head.

“Question answered,” he replied.

Mick became serious, looking over at Sara. “We’re going to need a blood sample from her,” he told her.

“I can get that,” she assured him. “It’s probably better if it’s as close to that day as we can get, right?”

Mick shrugged. “Not a requirement,” he admitted. “But we’ll be healing her to the condition her body was in when we got the blood sample so it’s probably better if you pick a date close to when it happens.”

Sara nodded and then let out a long breath. “April 8, 2016.”

Lisa glanced at her in curiosity. “How close is that to when it happened?” she asked.

Sara kept her voice and face carefully blank as she answered. “It’s the day she was killed.” She turned to Mick. “We should land in the morning. Her time of death was 11:59 that night.” When Leonard shifted closer to her, she leaned slightly back in to him, shooting him a grateful look over her shoulder.

“We better get going,” Mick told them. He nodded to where they’d been sitting before. “Better settle in.”

“You’re not even going to tell us to strap in?” Barry asked, thinking back to Cisco’s description of his time on the Waverider.

Leonard smirked over at Barry. “And where would you do that?”

“Well, it’s not my fault Rory picked a ship without seats!”

“Yeah,” Mick rolled his eyes, “because that’s what I was worried about when I was a time traveling bounty hunter. Seating arrangements.”

~*~*~

Sara looked over when Leonard stepped up next to her as she waited for the ramp to lower, her eyebrows lifting slightly in question.

“I thought I’d see what Star City looked like before it became the set of _Mockingjay_.” He kept his tone casual though his lips twitched when she laughed and slipped her hand in to his.

“Maybe I’ll buy you a milkshake from my favorite diner,” she told him.

“How Archie comics of you.”

Sara smirked at him. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you, Jughead.”

Leonard snorted as they left the ship, glancing around. “All right, Betty,” he smirked when she grinned, “lead the way.”

As they walked, she glanced at him. “I never pegged you as an Archie comics fan.”

He shrugged. “Lisa went through a phase.” His gaze slid briefly towards her. “But I remember enough to know that Jughead isn’t a villain.”

She didn’t bother to hide the small smile that appeared on her face. “Neither are you.”

Leonard scoffed. “I’m no hero.”

“You were called one after the Oculus,” she told him. She fought not to laugh when he literally stopped walking, his grip on her hand pulling her to a stop as well. As good as Leonard was at hiding his emotions, he couldn’t quite mask his dismay at her words.

He stared at her a few more moments and then narrowed his eyes as he faced forward again. “It was Raymond, wasn’t it?”

“No one disagreed.”

Leonard shook his head. “Hero,” he muttered, sounding a mix of horrified and disgusted.

Sara shrugged unapologetically. “Saved me,” she admitted quietly, thinking back to Russia and the way he’d stopped her from killing Martin. She didn’t look over and he didn’t stop walking this time. Instead, he simply squeezed her hand in acknowledgement.

“Let’s find a cab.”

~*~*~

Sara’s steps faltered when they were only about a block away from the police station, where she’d been told Laurel was, going over the testimony of an officer for a court date that she’d never make. A part of her found it hard to believe that she was so close to actually managing this, to actually saving her sister.

She wondered if this was how Laurel had felt when she had decided to use the pit to bring back Sara.

“Sara,” Leonard said, catching her gaze. He didn’t say anything else, only raised an eyebrow at her.

She nodded after a few moments. “I’m fine,” she assured him. “Just...hard to believe we’re so close.” Taking a deep breath, she glanced over at him. “You okay waiting here?”

“Oddly enough, going to a police station wasn’t on my list of things to do today.” He smirked at her. “Their accommodations are terrible.”

A grin appeared on her face and she laughed. “Uncomfortable beds.”

Leonard nodded seriously. “And a severe lack of room service.”

“How horrible for you.” She was more relaxed as she turned and used her grip on his hand to tug him towards her. She leaned up and pressed her lips against his, pulling back before he could respond. “Be back soon, Crook.”

The smile he gave her was one he’d only ever used with her. “I’ll be waiting, Assassin.” He watched as she walked away, not bothering to hide the fact that his gaze had wandered lower.

“You two are disgusting,” Mick told them over the comm.

“Like you can talk, _Clyde_ ,” Sara shot back.

A slow grin spread across Leonard’s face at the sudden silence before Mick swore.

“How do you even know about that?” he demanded. Leonard looked down to hide his expression from anyone that might be looking. After all, it wasn’t as if he could explain why he was trying not to laugh—even if he thought it might almost be worth it to see the looks he’d get if he said that the voices in his head were making him laugh.

“Let’s just say, Amaya and I like to drink together. Now shut up and stop distracting me,” Sara ordered. There was a few minutes of silence and then Sara’s voice came through sounding more cheerful than any of them had ever heard it. “Hey, Officer McG!”

“Well, if it isn’t little Sara Lance,” a man’s voice boomed over the line. “Still causing trouble?”

“Nothing I’ve had to be bailed out for,” Sara replied, a smile clear in her voice.

“But still causing trouble.”

“I’m walking and talking, aren’t I?”

“You know, your daddy mentioned you were dating a bit of a troublemaker last time you were in town,” Officer McG said.

Sara laughed. “I like the troublemakers,” she told him. “They’re the ones that are the most fun.”

“I better not be arresting any significant others, Sara!” His voice sounded fainter like she’d walked a bit away from him.

“I don’t date the ones that get caught,” she called back. The officer’s laughter followed her then faded and disappeared entirely.

Leonard smirked over the exchange and leaned back against the wall, set to wait for Sara.

~*~*~

Sara shook her head as she walked towards the area where Laurel was. She took a deep breath, grateful for the silence over the comms because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle everyone snarking at each other while she talked to her sister.

She stopped when she saw Laurel just up ahead, shaking the hand of the detective that she’d been talking to. Her breath caught when Laurel turned and spotted her, a smile lighting up her face.

“Sara!” Laurel pulled her in to a tight hug as soon as she was close enough. “What are you doing here? I thought you were off traveling through time.”

Sara laughed, tightening her grip on Laurel. “I have been. But I needed to stop by and see you.”

“Well, I’m never going to argue with that,” Laurel said as they pulled back. “You want to get lunch?”

“Actually, before we do that, can I talk to you?” She paused. “Somewhere where we’re not surrounded by cops?”

“Please tell me that I’m not helping you do something illegal,” Laurel sighed. “At least, not before dark.”

She heard Mick and Leonard both snort with laughter at that and she grinned. “Nothing illegal. I just need something.”

“Anything. You know that.” 

Sara smiled. “Let’s get out of here.” They each headed towards the doors, not even pausing when Sara called out, “Later, Officer McG!”

“You know,” Laurel said as they walked through the doors, “he hasn’t been officer in a long time. He’s a lieutenant now.” 

“I always think of him as Officer McG.” Sara shrugged. “Besides, he doesn’t mind.” She grinned when Laurel shook her head and smiled. They fell in to an easy silence as they walked until they neared the spot where Leonard was waiting. Sara slowed and smiled as he pushed off the wall and fell in to step beside her. 

“Sara?” Laurel asked, eyeing Leonard. “Why is Captain Cold walking with us? And don’t even think of telling me that’s not him, I’d recognize him anywhere.”

Leonard smirked. “Always pleased to meet a fan.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “Don’t be an ass.”

“But that’s what I do.”

“I thought stealing was what you did,” Laurel cut in, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, that too. But currently what I actually do is travel through time and help save the world.” He paused. “Which sometimes involves stealing things or shooting people.”

Laurel looked between the two and let out a resigned sigh, though the small smile she had gave away her amusement. “I’m going to have to learn to live with this, aren’t I?”

Sara nodded. “Yes.”

“Are you happy?”

Sara smiled. “Yes,” she repeated. 

“Fine. But if he decides to steal something from Star City, he better make sure not to get caught because I don’t want to deal with the headache.”

Leonard glanced over in surprise and fought back a smile, managing to keep it to a smirk as he said something he normally wouldn’t. “Sara doesn’t date the ones that get caught.”

Laurel threw her head back and laughed. “You know, I think we just might get along, Leonard Snart.”

~*~*~

“Here you go, Jughead,” Sara said as the waitress put a milkshake in front of him. Leonard smirked.

“Thanks, Betty.”

“You two are nauseating,” Laurel decided. Sara bit her lip to keep from laughing when she heard Mick through her comm,

“See, I told you so. Your sister gets it at least, Blondie.”

“Shut up, Mick,” Sara said. Off of her sister’s look, she gestured towards her ear and Laurel nodded in understanding.

“Sounds like he agrees with me.” She snagged a fry from the platter in the middle of the table. “Mick Rory, I’m guessing.”

“You’d guess right.”

Rather than say anything else, Laurel simply nodded. “Okay.” A smile tugged at her lips when both she and Sara dunked a fry in their shakes. “So, as happy as I am to see you, you said you needed something. What’s up?”

Sara took a deep breath. “I need some of your blood,” she told Laurel, making sure to keep her voice low.

Laurel blinked in surprise though that was the only sign that she gave that Sara’s statement hadn’t been what she was expecting. “Okay. Why?”

“To help you in the future. You’re going to get hurt but the only way for our A.I. to be able to heal you is if it has some of your DNA,” Sara explained.

“But it has to be DNA from before you were injured so we just did a bit of a time jump to get that,” Leonard finished.

Laurel looked between the two and then let out a long breath. “Well,” she said. “I guess Sara and I need to make a trip to the bathroom.” She glanced at Sara. “I’m guessing you have what you need with you?”

Sara nodded. “Yeah, I thought that’d be easier. Bathroom?”

“Bathroom.”

Leonard leaned back and raised an eyebrow as they both stood. “I just want you to know that you’re perpetuating the stereotype, Assassin.”

Sara rolled her eyes as she and Laurel walked to the bathroom. “Shut up,” she told him. He smirked and eyed the fries for a few moments before letting out a breath and shrugging to himself.

“What the hell,” he muttered, grabbing a fry and dunking it in his milkshake. He paused as he considered it and then nodded, repeating the action.

“I told you it was good,” Sara told him when they returned only a couple of minutes later. “And here, you were mocking me for that.”

“I’ll concede that you might not be as strange as I thought when it comes to this,” Leonard allowed. Laurel laughed as she took her seat.

“It’s okay, I thought it was weird too until I tried it,” she assured him.

“What this should really tell you both is that you should just listen to me,” Sara told them. Laurel scoffed.

“Right.”

The banter continued for a bit longer, with the occasional remark from Mick over the comms, until they had finished the milkshakes and then it was time to go. As much as Sara would have liked to take Laurel’s blood and go, she was also relishing in this relaxed banter between them.

She also knew that if she took the blood and bolted that Laurel would be suspicious and that would lead to her being distracted for the rest of the day. Sara wasn’t going to let that happen. She knew she couldn’t prevent what was going to happen that night but that didn’t mean she had to add to it.

“We better get back,” Sara said, standing. 

Laurel smiled. “Yeah, go heal me,” she ordered, softening the words with a hug. “Whatever we’re doing that got me injured, be careful, okay?” 

“I will,” Sara promised.

Laurel pulled back with a smile. “I love you, sis. Always and forever,” she said softly, echoing the words that Sara had told her when she’d decided to leave Star City.

Sara’s smile said that she remembered exactly when those words had last been spoken between the two of them. “I love you too.”

Laurel looked over at Leonard. “Take care of my sister.”

They both knew that Sara could take care of herself but still he replied, “I’ve got her back.”

Once they’d parted ways with Laurel headed back to her office and Leonard and Sara headed back to the ship, Sara let out a shaky breath.

“You okay?” he asked. She nodded.

“I’m fine. That was both harder and easier than I thought it would be.” Hard because it was the first time she’d gotten to see Laurel since finding out that her sister had been murdered and easy because it was as if no time had passed at all since they’d last seen each other. Leonard nodded in understanding.

“You did good, Blondie,” Mick told her.

Sara smiled. “Thanks, Mick. See you in a bit.”

Leonard raised a hand, signaling a cab to come to a stop. “Come on,” Leonard said. “Let’s go save your sister.”

~*~*~

Mick lowered the ramp, revealing the roof of the hospital, at 11:56. He went out and yanked open the door, propping it open so that Barry wouldn’t have any trouble running through with the replica of Laurel and bringing back the real one.

“You ready, Red?” he asked, as he walked back on the ship.

Barry nodded, holding a replica of Laurel that they’d dressed in a hospital gown. “Yeah,” he confirmed. He glanced down at the replica of Laurel. “Okay, I’m not going to lie, this is a bit creepy.”

“Just get down there and make the switch, Barry,” Leonard told him while Sara closed her eyes. Once she and Leonard had returned to Mick’s ship, Mick had taken Laurel’s blood to the med bay and had Goldwin put her DNA on record, saving half the vial. _For the Waverider_ , he’d said.

Sara had never wanted to hug him more though she’d refrained.

Barry waited until she had opened her eyes and then looked at her. “I’ll bring her back.” He looked at the clock.

11:59.

He ran.

Sara held her breath as he disappeared. She knew that Barry would be switching Laurel and her replica, connecting the replica to the IV so that there’d be no change. Blindly, she reached to the side and wrapped a hand around Leonard’s wrist. He looked over at her and stepped closer to her.

“Breathe,” he whispered.

She let out a breath and when a red blur appeared and headed back to the med bay, she couldn’t stop the strangled noise she made in the back of her throat. Across from her, Lisa looked like she wanted to say something though she refrained and instead raised an eyebrow at Sara with a smile before nodding at the hallway.

Sara squeezed Leonard’s wrist before letting go and running down the hallway, Leonard and the others right behind her.

She didn’t stop until she was standing less than a foot from the bed that Barry had put Laurel on and then she froze, staring down at her sister.

“Goldwin, will you be able to heal her?” Mick asked. 

There was a pause as Goldwin scanned Laurel. “Yes, Captain,” he confirmed. “As with Sara Lance on the Waverider, Laurel Lance’s brain cells are still active enough that I can heal her.” Before any of them had a chance to say anything, a warm blue glow enveloped Laurel.

None of them spoke as they stared at Laurel, waiting for that moment when the light would fade, indicating that she was fully healed.

Sara closed her eyes in relief when the blue light faded, leaving Laurel lying there unconscious but otherwise unharmed.

“Laurel Lance has been healed and is now simply resting. She should wake within the next two hours,” Goldwin informed them.

“Thank you, Goldwin,” Sara said, voice shaking slightly. 

It was silent for a few moments until Lisa spoke. “I’m going to get you some water since I don’t think you’re going to be leaving here any time soon.” Sara glanced at her and nodded gratefully. Lisa hadn’t even taken two steps before Sara had turned back to Laurel, fully intending not to move until her sister woke up.

~*~*~

Goldwin’s estimate on how long Laurel would be unconscious was completely accurate since it was almost two hours later exactly that Laurel began to wake. By that point, Mick, Lisa, and Barry had all gone back to the bridge so that they’d be ready when Laurel was to go back to 2017. Leonard, on the other hand, had only left for a little while before coming back to keep Sara company, refusing to let her sit there in silence for two hours.

Leonard briefly touched Sara’s shoulder. “I’ll go let them know she’s waking up,” he told her before he walked out, leaving her alone with Laurel. Despite the fact that they’d just seen Laurel earlier that day, Leonard figured that this discussion might be one that Sara wanted to be alone with Laurel for.

“Sara, was that who I think it was?” Laurel asked, sounding groggy.

Sara couldn’t have stopped the relieved smile that spread across her face if she’d tried. “If you think that was Leonard, then yes, it was.”

Laurel stared at her in confusion. “Where am I?” She looked around. “Is this the Waverider?”

“No,” Sara said. “It’s Mick’s ship. We’re using it to heal you.”

“Heal—“ Laurel cut off. “The blood you needed earlier today? That was because of Darhk stabbing me?” She frowned. “But you guys weren’t even there for that. I thought it was some battle that we’d be fighting together.”

Sara’s breath hitched. “I’m from February 2017, Laurel,” she confessed. “And I haven’t fought by your side in an actual fight since right before I left Star City.” She let out a breath and decided to just tell Laurel everything in one go. It would be easier than just giving her bits and pieces of the story. “In May 2016, we thought Leonard died. So Rip dropped us off four months after he said he would because he said he didn’t want to lose another team member.” 

Laurel looked like she didn’t want to hear what was coming next but rather than ask Sara to stop, she pulled herself up slightly and nodded. “What happened?” If Sara had thought that Leonard was dead then Laurel had a feeling she knew what Sara would have done next but given that Laurel had no memory of anything passed talking to Ollie in the hospital and then a sudden inability to breathe, she didn’t want to think what Sara had found.

“I went to your apartment but no one was home and you weren’t answering your phone so I thought maybe you were training. Dad was there. He said...he told me that Darhk had killed you in April. Then he took me to your grave.” Sara’s voice broke on the last sentence and she scrubbed her hands over her face, determined not to cry. Laurel was here, she was alive, there was no reason to cry, damn it.

“Sara,” Laurel breathed. She knew what that had to have felt like. Maybe not exactly, obviously, because the circumstances had been different but she wasn’t sure which was worse. Her seeing Sara fall to her death or Sara coming back to find out that Laurel had been dead for a month. Rather than think about it, she reached out and pulled her sister down and in to a hug. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes until Laurel finally let Sara pull away a bit. “But what happened? You found out in May you said but you came from the following February. So what happened?”

Sara scowled as she took her seat. “Rip refused to go back to April to save you,” she said. “He said that in the original timeline, I’d been there and that Darhk had killed both of us and Dad. So he refused to go back. Said that even with the team, it wouldn’t matter.”

Well, Laurel decided, she was grateful that he hadn’t risked her sister but she also thought the man was a hypocrite since Sara had told her at lunch earlier that the mission had turned out to be more personal for Rip since he wanted to stop his family from dying.

“So what changed his mind?” she asked. Maybe defeating Savage and getting his family back meant that he’d been willing to save her.

“Nothing. He wasn’t part of this.” Sara took a deep breath. “Dad convinced me to continue with the mission and we killed Savage and then went on a new mission to preserve the timeline. I’ll tell you details later but Rip’s not around anymore and I actually became the captain of the Waverider. Darhk has teamed up with Malcolm Merlyn and the Reverse Flash to get their hands on the Spear of Destiny, which would allow them to alter reality.”

“Oh my God,” Laurel said, imagining what the three of them would do with that type of power.

“Yeah,” Sara agreed. “We figured out the Reverse Flash’s name and decided to go to Central City to see what Barry might know.” She let out a breath. “Mick hadn’t been able to find Leonard’s sister, Lisa, in May to tell her what had happened so he went to find her now and I went with him. Normally, you can’t interfere in events that you were a part of but Lisa figured out a loophole since she hadn’t been there and we saved Leonard without tipping off our past selves so the timeline is still the same. Leonard was the one that figured out a way to save you based on something I’d told him.”

“Guess I better buy him a bottle or something,” Laurel said, a small smile on her lips.

“Might want to buy Mick something since this is his ship and equipment and Barry...well, maybe a milkshake or something since he doesn’t seem to drink a lot. He’s the one that ran the replica of your body down and made the switch before bringing you up here.”

Laurel laughed. “Noted.” After a few moments, she grew more serious. “Now what happens?”

“Well, once you’re clear to travel, we’re going to go back to Febraury 2017. The Damien Darhk you fought was killed by Oliver, the one teaming up with Merlyn and Thawne is from the past.”

“Okay but what about telling people about me? Dad? Mom?” Laurel frowned.

Sara sighed. “We can’t tell the ones in 2016 that you’re alive. It’ll alter the timeline. But what we can do is take you to 2017 and tell Dad what really happened.” She paused. “As for Mom and everyone who is not in the know? We’re going to tell them that you nearly died after Darhk stabbed you and that the authorities put you in a type of witness protection program until Darhk and associates were taken care of and you were healed enough to return. It explains why there was a funeral but no one except Dad and Team Arrow saw your body. And the doctors but if they make noise, it’ll be easy to say that it was a fake body.”

Laurel let out a breath. “That’s probably our best bet, isn’t it?” she asked. Off of Sara’s nod, she pushed herself until she was sitting up completely. “Well, then am I clear to travel?”

“Affirmative,” Goldwin told them. Laurel jumped and looked towards the ceiling.

“Sorry,” Sara said. “I probably should have warned you about Mick’s A.I. That’s Goldwin.”

“Oh,” Laurel looked up again. “Thanks, Goldwin.”

“You’re welcome,” Goldwin replied.

“There’s one other thing.” Sara glanced over at her. “Your Earth-2 version showed up here pretending to be you and claiming that I’d gone back in time to save you.”

Laurel groaned. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

“Because your Earth-2 version is a metahuman that goes by Black Siren and isn’t exactly one of the good guys. So we’re going to have to make sure Barry and I are there to tell Oliver and the others or they’ll be skeptical,” Sara explained.

“Oh joy,” Laurel sighed. She glanced down at herself. “Sara? Please tell me you have something other than a hospital gown for me to wear.”

~*~*~

After a trip to the fabrication room on Mick’s ship so Laurel could have actual clothes, Laurel and Sara had headed to the bridge where everyone else was waiting. She smiled brightly at the sight of Barry nearly vibrating in place.

“Hi Barry,” she said. “I hear I have you to thank for making the switch.” The words had barely left her mouth before Barry had sped up to her and pulled her in to a hug.

“We all really missed you,” he said as she laughed and hugged him back. “Cisco might actually flip out when he sees you. He framed—“

Laurel sighed and shook her head. “It’s a shame I’ll be killing him,” she interrupted. Off of Barry’s look, she added, “I told him what would happen if he shared that.” She waited a few beats as Barry looked torn between protesting and asking if she was serious before she started laughing again. “I’m kidding, Barry.”

“Oh good. That was going to suck.”

Laurel looked over to the other three in the room. “Leonard Snart,” she greeted.

“Laurel Lance,” he replied.

“I hear you were dead. Or possibly dead. Either way, welcome back.”

Leonard smirked. “Likewise.”

“And thanks,” she added. “Since I hear you were the one that came up with the idea on how to save me.”

He shrugged. “I did tell you I’d have Sara’s back.”

“That you did,” she agreed before turning to the two she didn’t know. “I’m guessing you’re Mick Rory and Lisa Snart.”

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Lisa told her with a smile.

She nodded. “Thanks.” Turning towards Mick, she stepped closer. “I also hear this is your ship and it was your A.I. that saved me. Thank you.”

He shrugged, uncomfortable with the attention fully on him. “Any time, Dimples.”

Laurel paused. “Dimples?”

“You got dimples when you smile,” he explained. “I was going to call you Legs because you got a nice pair of those too but if you’re anything like your sister, Dimples was the safer option.”

Laurel grinned mischievously and stepped in to his space. “I don’t know, I like being told I have great legs.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek before moving away, leaving Mick and Barry staring at her in surprise while the other three smirked at the exchange. “So, when are we heading to 2017?”

~*~*~

“That was awful,” Laurel groaned as they got off the ship in Central City. “You do that on a regular basis?”

“Well, it gets easier,” Sara told her. “Plus, Mick’s ship wasn’t meant to have passengers so we don’t sit on the floor on the Waverider. It makes a difference.” She stopped near where she knew the Waverider was parked and turned to Laurel. “So, do you want me to take you straight back to Star City or should I bring Dad here so you can tell him and Mom at the same time?”

Laurel hesitated. “Here.”

Sara nodded. “And then take you guys back and help you tell Team Arrow the news?”

The hesitation was longer this time. “No,” she said. “Could you bring the team here too?”

Making note of the way Laurel was frowning, Sara tilted her head slightly. “Laurel?”

“I just...I still want to help. I still want to be the Black Canary and I want to see if I can get back to prosecuting too,” Laurel explained. “But the thought of doing it in Star City...” she trailed off and let out a short laugh, shaking her head. “I suddenly understand why you couldn’t stay there after we brought you back.”

At that, Sara nodded in understanding. “Where are you going to go?”

Laurel bit her lip and then turned towards where the others stood, talking. “Hey, Barry,” she called. When he turned towards her, she smiled. “You think Team Flash has room for the Black Canary?”

Barry’s eyes widened. “What? Seriously?”

“And maybe Central City has room for another prosecutor?” She shrugged. “I was going to take the offer in Star City to be the ADA but I can see about working my way up to that around here.”

Barry grinned. “Their loss, our gain,” he said. He paused. “I’m not the one telling Oliver, right? Because nope.”

Laurel laughed. “Relax, I’ll tell him.”

“Gideon can probably fabricate the necessary documents to prove that you were in a protection program so that you can be declared alive and can get back to your life,” Sara offered. “And that should also mean the digital versions as well.”

“I’m going to let Iris know I’m back and then if you want, I’ll come back and help with anything else you need,” Barry told them.

“Go spend time with your girlfriend, Barry,” Sara ordered with a smile. “If we need anything, I’ll call.”

He grinned and nodded before speeding off.

Sara had barely pulled out the remote that let her uncloak the Waverider before there was a sudden breeze and then Barry was standing there again.

“Back already? I thought you were going to spend time with Iris,” Sara teased. She paused when an emotion she couldn’t pin flickered over his face. “What’s wrong?” Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you in different clothes?”

Barry let out a breath. “I need to ask you a favor. Once you’re done taking care of everything here and getting Snart back in with the team, can you come to May 2017?”

Sara straightened, the pieces falling in to place. “You’re from then?”

“I am,” he confirmed. “From the beginning of the month. And explaining will be a lot easier then. This was just the quickest way I could think of to ask you to come.”

“We’ll be there,” Sara told him. The look of gratitude on his face told her exactly how important the request was to him.

“Thank you.”

She nodded. “See you in May, Barry.”

He didn’t reply, just took off running.

“What was that about?” Leonard asked.

“Seems like Barry’s going to need a favor in the future,” was all Sara said. “But, first, we have a few things to do.”

~*~*~

_May 2017_

“So, what kind of favor do you think Barry needs?” Leonard asked as they all made their way inside S.T.A.R Labs. They’d gone on a few missions before heading for May 2017 in Central City so that the team could get used to Leonard being around again (or at all, in Amaya and Nate’s case) and, now, it was almost as if he’d never left.

Almost. There were still times where something would be mentioned from the time they’d thought him dead and events would have to be explained but the team felt more complete than it had in a long time.

“I’m not sure,” Sara said with a frown. “I guess we’ll find out.” They’d landed on May 5th after explaining the request that Barry had made back in February. She paused as they entered the main lab area and scanned the room, noting the serious look on everyone’s faces. “Barry.”

Everyone turned and Cisco let out a breath as he looked at Barry. “You called in the Legends?” he asked. Barry nodded as Laurel smiled at Sara and the others. 

“I went back to just after we got Laurel and Snart back and asked if they could make their way to this time,” Barry explained. He moved forward so that he was standing closer to them as Iris moved to stand by his side. “I accidentally ran in to the future a few months ago,” he explained. 

It was Ray who spoke next. “I’m guessing you saw something that needs to be prevented then.”

Barry nodded, his jaw clenched. “I don’t want to change the past, I want to change the future. Because if we don’t, then Iris will be murdered in front of me by a speedster named Savitar on May 23rd.”

Sara sucked in a breath and she could hear the rest of the team doing the same. She glanced back at the others and noted that Ray looked like he was seconds from agreeing already. She supposed, out of all them, he and Amaya would understand the most since they’d each had someone they loved die in their arms.

Judging by the looks on the rest of the team’s faces, they were all thinking the same thing that she was. Her eyes met Leonard’s and he nodded slightly in agreement and she just knew he was thinking of how he’d felt when he had found out about how she’d died in February. After the way Barry had helped them back then, there was no way they were going to say no to him now.

“Okay,” she said, turning back to Team Flash, a look of determination that matched the rest of her team’s appearing on her face. “Then let’s change the future.”

**Author's Note:**

> No, you didn't miss anything. I didn't address what they did with Mick's ship at all. Let's just say they found a place to store it. In case of emergency or something.


End file.
